


Not the dream but waking up

by pilvenpiirtaja



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, M/M, sleep paralysis, though the uni is just a background thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-06-04 05:24:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6643078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pilvenpiirtaja/pseuds/pilvenpiirtaja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Sleep paralysis:</b> a phenomenon in which a person either during falling asleep (hypnagogia) or awakening (hypnopompia), temporarily experiences an inability to move, speak, or react.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not the dream but waking up

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to @samettikettu for betaing this fic.

Akaashi was dreaming. It wasn’t really a dream, more like a slight nightmare, nothing too serious. In the dream, he realized two of his courses overlapped, and he couldn’t miss the classes for the other course as it had a strict absence policy and he already knew he would be missing one of the classes later on during the course. In that situation he would’ve simply skipped on the other course, but then he realized he had a presentation with a partner he had completely forgotten about, causing him to panic a bit.

All in all, the nightmare wasn’t really terrifying, he would’ve just brushed it off and gone back to sleep normally. Those classes didn’t even overlap in reality, and he certainly hadn’t forgotten any group projects. It wasn’t the dream that had forced him to get up from his warm, comfortable bed in the middle of the night, while trying not to wake the man sleeping peacefully next to him in order to calm himself back down. No, it was the way he woke up that had frightened Akaashi.

He hadn’t been able to move in the slightest. He could hear his breathing pace up in his ears, but that wasn’t all he heard. His ears were filled with the sound of the wind, they felt as if he had been bicycling downhill with his earbuds on. He had tried to say something, he couldn’t remember what it was exactly anymore, but his own voice had been floating in the air, detached from his body, almost as if it were somebody else who had spoken. He felt pressure on his thighs, unable to lift them from the mattress but it wasn’t that that had scared him the most. He had felt somebody put pressure on his shoulders, trapping him under his blanket while he was staring at the blackness of the bedroom. He hadn’t seen anyone there, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming right above him. He wasn’t sure how long he was trapped in his own body, unable to control his movements. All he could do was to try to control his own breathing, to calm it down, while hoping that if he just relaxed enough, the feeling would pass.

 

Now, sitting by the kitchen counter Akaashi sighed. He was sure the experience hadn’t lasted for longer than some seconds, fifteen at the most, although it had felt like forever. He was still jittery, he had no idea what had happened, it scared him. He glanced at the clock, it was barely 3:30am. Akaashi tried to calm himself down enough to go back to bed, but the darkness of their bedroom didn’t feel inviting in the least, nor did the sounds the nightly apartment building help him in regaining his composure. Every time he heard a knock or a bang from somewhere above he jumped just slightly. Even in the soft orange light he had turned on upon entering the kitchen  hadn’t helped in banish his fear. 

Akaashi wished he had taken his phone with him when he exited the bedroom, he could’ve used his time to research what might have happened. He was fairly certain the experience hadn’t been anything too serious, but knowing the mechanics behind it would help him to relax. He knew self-diagnosing wasn’t all that plausible, and it would be likely that the internet would try to convince him that he was dying, or he had gotten abducted by aliens or something similar.  

 

“Aka-ashi”, a sleepy voice disturbed Akaashi’s thoughts. “What are you doing up at this hour, come back to bed, please?”

“Sorry, Bokuto-san, I didn’t mean to wake you”, Akaashi replied as he turned towards the older man yawning in the doorway of the small kitchen.

“Don’t worry about it.” Bokuto chuckled. “Is everything alright?” he soon continued as he saw the traces of distress still present on the younger’s face. His concern was rewarded with the smallest of smiles.

“Don’t worry, it was just… Well, I don’t really know what it was, to be honest,” Akaashi replied.

“Oh? What happened?” Bokuto approached the smaller man, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. “You know you can tell me anything?” he added as he saw the hesitation linger on Akaashi’s face.

“I don’t really know what happened”, Akaashi began with a slight tremor in his voice. “At first I was dreaming, and then I woke up but I couldn’t move my body. It was terrifying, I couldn’t control anything besides my breathing until it was over.”

“Oh, I know what that is, it has happened to me too!”

“It has?” Akaashi asked in confusion.

Bokuto held Akaashi closer as he explained. “It’s called sleep paralysis, I think, it happens sometimes when you wake up from a deep sleep and your body gets confused and during them people might see things, you know, hallucinate? I think it’s not that uncommon, though I haven’t met anyone who’s had an attack before, though I suppose it’s not something that would come up in a conversation”, Bokuto took in a deep breath before continuing. “They’re really scary, when it happened to me I thought there was somebody in my room and I couldn’t move at all, and then it was over.”

“Hallucinate? That would explain the sounds, but I didn’t see anyone in the room, at least I think I didn’t”, Akaashi mused as he pressed his face into the crook of Bokuto’s neck. They stayed in silence for a moment, Akaashi enjoying the warmth of the older man, the terror of the night slowly leaving him. .

“Are you really okay?” Bokuto’s voice was worried, he wasn’t used to seeing Akaashi so vulnerable. It was usually Bokuto who would wake the other up after a nightmare, who would then comfort him and they would talk until Bokuto fell back to sleep. “Do you want to stay up for longer, I could make you some tea?”

“I’m okay, Bokuto-san, there’s no need for that. I think I’m ready to go back to bed.” Akaashi then gently broke their embrace and headed  towards their bedroom.

“Do you promise to wake me up if it happens again?”

The concern was still evident on Bokuto’s features as Akaashi glanced over his shoulder.

“I will, don’t worry. The night doesn’t feel nearly as frightening when I have you to protect me.”

A smile found its way to Akaashi’s lips as he felt the man beam behind him.

“Of course I will, Akaashi!”

**Author's Note:**

> What does a writer do after waking up with sleep paralysis? Write it onto her faves. I hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> This was also the first ship-fic I've ever written, I hope I didn't miss the mark too badly.
> 
> I can also be found on tumblr under the url luottamusystaviinonystavyytta.


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